Some modern printers are designed with smaller processing capabilities to keep costs to the consumer relatively low. Instead of relying on complex local processing hardware, such printing systems are designed to rely on processing performed by a cloud computing system. The printer itself is generally designed to execute a specific type of code to provide a user with a user interface panel. This executable code may be in a format such as an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format.
In such printing systems, a specific navigational application runs on the cloud computing system. That navigational application manages what is displayed to a user on the user interface of that printer. The navigational application sends executable code to be executed by the firmware on the printing system. The printing system executes that code to display the appropriate images to the user. As the user interacts with the user interface of the printer, the printer sends the navigational application information relating to the user's inputs.
The user may interact with the user interface to browse content that can be printed by the printer. Sometimes, this content may be provided by third party providers. In such cases, the navigational application for a specific printer is designed to accept content that is specifically and statically modeled for viewing on the printer. Thus, the content provider does not have much freedom to determine how the content is displayed to a user through the printer's user interface.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.